The Tribune

By Malcolm Strachan

IT’s been another violent week in The Bahamas, with more murders, more bodies in our streets and again the cry going up “What can we do about crime?”

But there’s one word in that cry that often gets overlooked. That’s the word “we”. That’s not just our politicians, we can say “they” when we ask what can our politicians do about crime. That’s not just the police either, unless you are putting on a uniform each day and going out to work. No, that “we” is something altogether far more personal. That’s you. That’s me.

But what can we do about it, you might ask. I can’t go out on the streets on patrol to stop crime. I can’t arrest anyone.

Maybe not, but you can make a difference – just by keeping your eyes and ears open.

On Saturday of last week, police reported an armed robbery at the home of two women. There was a knock on the door and when one of the two answered, there was a tall, dark-skinned, slim man, who pulled out a gun and demanded cash. He robbed both the women of some money.

It is probably a sign of the times that such a story – with a man just brazenly walking up to a house, pulling out a gun and demanding money – is not regarded as anything remarkable or exceptional. We ought to feel safe enough in our homes with our doors closed.

But what has this got to do with me, I hear you asking. Well, the difference here is that the women fought back – and the robber was stabbed in the left shoulder before he left.

Police checking local medical facilities for someone fitting his description but without any luck. And yet, someone probably knows this person. Someone probably noticed somebody with a wound, or a bandaged shoulder. Maybe a family member. Maybe the person who did the bandaging.

With crime at the levels it is, there are many people who know someone who might be involved in such activity – but do we speak out? After all, these are people that are going out and inflicting harm on others. We are not just talking killers – though each of those has family and friends who by allowing their continued presence in our levels tolerate their actions. But there are robbers, fraudsters, there are those who inflict violence on their own family members. Do we say no? When we suspect them, do we call Crime Stoppers to report them? Or do we hope that somehow they will stop of their own accord when they see their actions have no consequences?

Worse, some of us help to cause harm on others ourselves – through nothing more than the phone in our hands.

There was a horrifying story about crime scene photos being leaked after the double murder of Allison Thompson and her daughter Trevorniqua.

When that phone beeped and you saw the images that someone shared with you, did you share them on yourself?

Think of how family members of the victims must have felt to see those images on Facebook or on Whatsapp. All it took was for people to take a second, pause and think to themselves what advantage there was to share those images. To think of the harm it must have caused loved ones of the victims to see them being shared around in this terrible moment.

Rather than share them, you could have turned around and told the person who sent them along that it was inappropriate to do so. To think about their actions. To think about why they were doing this and what they gained from it. Some kind of clout?

Those images never came to my social media – perhaps I have told people in the past not to share such things with me so they thought twice, but if they had I would like to think I would have answered back and told them to think of the victims’ families when sharing such things around.

We do not have to take to the streets ourselves to play a part in stopping crime – though that would be welcome in the form of marches, perhaps.

When I see some of the things that groups protest about and yet fail to join together to stand united against crime, I wonder how they can overlook the elephant in the room to target their smaller issue instead.

In saying that we can report someone if we are convinced they are taking part in crime, some will rail against it and say that is being a snitch or a rat, but we can’t just leave making our society safer to others. If that person is taking part particularly in violent crime, notifying police – which you can do anonymously – might save someone’s life.

And choosing not to share on violent images is something we can all do. Ask yourself if that was your mother, your brother, your sister, your father, someone you love, how would you feel if you opened up Facebook and there was their last moment for you to see?

Ending violence may not be entirely on our shoulders, but it can begin with us. That’s before we even look at other ways to reach out to one another in our communities, and build the links that can stand united against crime.

There is a lot of talk about zero tolerance towards crime – but we tolerate it every day. We tolerate it when we fail to speak up. We tolerate it when we share violent images along without thinking. We tolerate it as a society when we fail to act with speed on crimes if it affects someone we regard as important. We tolerate it when we accept criminals into our homes and our lives without making it clear such behaviour is unacceptable.

So we can make a difference. And we can start today.